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A descriptive circular may be had, and the Truss (which cannot fail to fit) forwarded by post on the circumference of the body, two inches below the hips, being sent to the Manufacturer, MR. JOHN WHITE, 228, PICCADILLY, LONDON. Price of a Single Truss, 168., 218., 268. 6d., and 318. 6d. Postage free. Double Truss, 318. 6d., 428., and 528. 6d. Postage free. An Umbilical Truss, 428. and 528. 6d. Postage free. Post-Office Orders payable to JOHN WHITE, Post-Office, Piccadilly. E LASTIC STOCKINGS, KNEE-CAPS, &c., for VARICOSE VEINS, and all cases of WEAKNESS and SWELLING of the LEGS, SPRAINS, &c. They are porous, light in texture, and inexpensive, and are drawn on like an ordinary stocking. Prices, 48. 6d., 78. 6d., 108., and 168. each. Postage free. JOHN WHITE, MANUFACTURER, 225, PICCADILLY, London. WATSON'S OLD MARSALA WINE, gua ranteed the finest imported, free from acidity or bent, and much superior to low-priced Sherry (de Dr. Druitt on Cheap Wines), 238. per dozen. Selected dry Tarragona, 20. per dozen. Terms cash. A single dozen rail paid.-W. D. WATSON, Wine Merchant, 373, Oxford Street (entrance in Berwick Street), London, W. Established 1841. Full Price Lists post free on application. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1876. CONTENTS. - N° 131. NOTES:-The Story of "Notes and Queries," 1-The "Vauxde-Vire" of Oliver Basselin, the Dyer and Poet of Vire, 2The Writings of Charles Dickinson, D.D., Lord Bishop of Meath, 3-Tithes of Fulburne, co. Cambridge, 1436, 4Wentworth MS.-Edwards of Somerset, Bristol, &c.— “Club," 5-The Branks-Musical Canons-" Ramping in his head"-The Cornish Language in 1616-"Terrified "-LadyBird-Yorkshire Superstition, 6. QUERIES:-Dante, 6-Authorship of Plays Wanted-Two Tiny Volumes-The Baron Dembrowski-Heraldic: Eyre Family, 7-Moated Parsonages-Medal and TokensShelley-Man's Duty to Animals-Dr. Schouler's MSS."Thump Sunday"-Celtic, Saxon, and Danish Castrame tation-Hooker-Assart: Hoppit, 8. REPLIES:-The Irish Peerage: The Irish Union Peers, 9"Garrt laidir aboo"-On some Obscure Words in Shakspeare: Shakspeare accused of Provincialism, 10-The Southern Cross, 11-A Folk-Lore Society, 12-The Regicides -The Basques, 13-The Towns of Colon and Chagres "Eryng":"Egging," 14-" Softa "-Early Stage SceneryCapital "I"-Horace: Virgil, 15-Tennyson's Early Publications-Old Coins-Derivation of "Cousin "-Coin-" The Case is Altered"-William le Rus-The "Pokershippe" of Boringwood-"Humbug," 16-"Complement" for "Compliment "—Initial Letters-English and French, 17-Seafoul Gibson-"A borrowed day "-The Vulgate-"Talented," 18 -"Winchel Rod"-The late Bishop Forbes-Thomas, Earl of Lancaster-A Manx Act of Parliament, 19. Notes on Books, &c. Notes. THE STORY OF "NOTES AND QUERIES." I have often been urged by old friends and contributors to tell the story of the origin of "N. & Q.," and have as often promised to do so some day. But when such an appeal as that of the REV. RICHARD HOOPER (ante, v. 459) is publicly made to me by an old friend who has been a contributor to this journal from its first appearance, and that appeal is backed by the courtesy of Dr. Doran, I feel that the day has come for the fulfilment of my promise. I feel this the more strongly because MR. HOOPER gives me the sole credit of what he is pleased to call the "happy thought"; and common honesty demands that I should remove that impression, and do justice to those dear friends, now unhappily passed away, who had quite as much, if not more to do with the establishment of this journal than I feel justified in laying claim to. if remembered at all-he is apt to be garrulous, more especially "When, musing on companions gone, He doubly feels that he 's alone." But I must tell my story in my own way if I tell it at all. A warmer hearted man than Thomas Amyot, the secretary, friend, and biographer of Windham, never existed. Great was the encouragement and many the kindnesses which I received at his hands when I first began to dabble in literature. Fifty years ago, when I was proposing to edit the Early Prose Romances, he introduced me to that ripe scholar, Francis Douce, who received me with a warmth and cordiality which I could only attribute to his regard for Mr. Amyot. That warmth and cordiality never abated. The day when I entered the cell of Prospero-my older readers will remember that Mr. Douce was the Prospero of the Bibliomania, &c.—that library which was dukedom large enough for the most voracious helluo librorum that ever breathed- -was a happy day for me. He encouraged me in every way: lent me books-aye, and MSS.; answered all my inquiries, poured out his stores of learning, enCouraged my visits, and, only a few weeks before his death, told me that, when a young man, he, at Bindley's special request, had regularly spent one evening every week with him at Somerset House, and urged me to do him what he was pleased to call the same kindness. But more of dear old Francis Douce elsewhere and hereafter. I will only add that it was in his charming library at Gower Street that I first met, amongst others, James Heywood Markland and the accomplished author of The Curiosities of Literature, Isaac D'Israeli-two ripe scholars and good men whom it is at once a pride and a pleasure to have known. But the greatest kindness I ever received from Mr. Amyot was about the year 1837, when one evening, at the Society of Antiquaries, he led me up to a gentleman, saying, "You two should know each other, for I am sure you will be friends." The gentleman put out his hand to me with that frank courtesy which was so characteristic of him; and thus commenced an acquaintance, which soon ripened into a more than brotherly affection, between my ever-lamented friend John Bruce and myself. What an advantage this intimacy with a man of such varied acquirements and such high intellectual and moral excellence was to me, perhaps I never fully appreciated until his sudden death in October, 1869, startled and shocked the large number of attached friends to whom his high character, talents, and kindliness had endeared him, and in whose memory he still holds a foremost place. But before proceeding, I must be permitted two words of warning. The first is that the idea of "N. & Q." was not an inspiration, but rather a development. It did not spring, like Minerva in full panoply, from the brain of its progenitor, but, like Topsy, it "growed." The second, that when an old gossip of threescore and twelve is asked to It was in one of our pleasant gossips on books narrate the circumstances of the one event of his and men, and while feeling the want of some inforlife by which he is ever likely to be remembered-mation of which we were in search, and lamenting the difficulty of bringing such want under the notice of those who might be able to supply it, that the idea of starting a small paper with such special object was struck out. Once started, it was never lost sight of; and about the year 1841 our plan had so far been matured that some specimen pages of The Medium, for so our projected journal was named, were set up in type by Mr. Richards, of St. Martin's Lane, the printer for the Percy Society. But The Medium was never destined to appear. The state of his wife's health compelled Mr. Bruce to reside for some years in the country; and for those years an incessant and confidential correspondence was my only compensation for the loss of those instructive interchanges of thought and talk which I had so much enjoyed. for two or three hours on Weybridge Common, while he poured out his learning on the ancient Mark, land boundaries, and land tenures, in a manner to make me regret that we had not a shorthand writer with us. He told me that he never wrote down any part of a book or essay he was going to publish until the whole was actually composed in his mind, and that the greater portion of his Saxons in England was actually completed in his head before a single line of it was committed to paper. But enough for this week; for though, like honest Dogberry, I can find it in my heart to bestow all my tediousness upon my readers, I have just enough discretion left not to bestow it all at once. WILLIAM J. THOMS. THE DYER AND POET OF VIRE. But it may be asked why I could not as well undertake the sole management of the projected THE "VAUX-DE-VIRE" OF OLIVER BASSELIN, paper in 1841 as in 1849. I can only answer that the idea of taking upon myself the responsibility of conducting the proposed paper, except in conjunction with my accomplished friend, never once entered my head. The scheme had fallen to the ground, and but for an incident which I shall mention presently, I don't believe "N. & Q." would ever have appeared. By the year 1849, when Rowland Hill's great scheme of postal reform was beginning to bear fruit, the share which I had taken in the organization of some, and in the management of others, of many "co-operative literary societies" (Camden, Percy, Shakespeare, Elfric, Granger, &c.) had so increased the number of my literary friends, that I felt I could venture to introduce to their notice a plan for turning those reforms to good account in the publication of works of interest to scholars, but not of a nature to remunerate publishers. The On September 24 last, a friend and myself spent a delightful day at the ancient town of Vire, in the Norman Bocage, famous since the fifteenth century for its manufactures of paper and cloths. It happened to be a great market day, and we were charmed by the picturesque sights. booths for the sale of gay-coloured cloths; the various shapes of the women's caps, some like a jockey's, but with a bow tied behind, instead of in front, others, the bonnet de coton, like the Kilmarnock nightcap celebrated by Burns; the curious clock-tower over the town gate, the latter surmounted by the statue of the Virgin, and the legend "Marie protège la Ville"; the old town walls, capped at intervals by drum towers, finally dying away at the scarped rocky promontory whereon stand the remains of the keep, encircled by the little stream of the Vire, a-all in turn excited our interest. Nor are the ecclesiastical remains to be passed over. The curious church of St. Thomas outside of the walls— a relic of very remote antiquity, to which tradition records a visit by Archbishop Becket-with the cathedral-like parish church of Notre Dame de Vire, and the fine modern one of St. Anne, were each carefully examined. But Vire has a wider fame from its local poet, the jolly dyer Basselin, whose chansons, said to have been composed early in the fifteenth century, and sung to his neighbours in his native valley, are generally reputed to have given name to the modern vaudeville. The site of Basselin's mill is still pointed out, at the foot of the slope below the castle. French critics have long been sceptical, not only as to the existence of the poet, but also as to the antiquity assigned to his verses. They were first collected in an authentic form by an advocate of Vire, Maistre Jean le Houx, who published them about the end of the sixteenth century, along with some of his own. The freedom of their sentiments excited the displeasure of the clergy of Vire, who I need not fill space with an account of scheme which was never carried out, but of which I may say that when I called upon John Mitchell Kemble, and we talked it over from " noon to dewy eve," he spoke in such terms of approval as surprised me; for, in his opinion, I was about to effect a revolution scarcely less important than that which had been brought about by the invention of printing; and, with his characteristic impulsive kindliness, he would not let me go away without a contribution to the first number in the shape of a transcript of a small portion of an old English Metrical Chronicle from a MS. at Göttingen. The great Saxonist was at that time editing the British and Foreign Review, and deeply interested in the war then raging in Hungary-a map of the scene of it was spread on his table, on which the position and movements of the different armies were marked by coloured pins. John Mitchell Kemble was not only a man of deep and varied learning, but a man of great genius and of great eloquence. I remember once visiting him at Addlestone, and walking with him refused the editor absolution, to obtain which he had to go to Rome, and acquired the sobriquet of "le Romain." The collection of both poets is a very curious one, full of wit and humour. As their latest French editor, M. Lacroix, remarks (Paris edit., 8vo., 1858, preface, p. xi) :: "These Vaux-de-Vire are evidently of the middle or end of the sixteenth century. They have been dressed up (rajeunis) by Jean le Houx, who first recovered, if he did not compose them himself, under the name of Oliver Basselin, a name well known in Normandy, on account of the old chanson of Guillaume Cretin." M. Lacroix refers here to a fragment of a song contained in a letter of Cretin's, who died in 1525, addressed to Francis Charbonnier, secretary to the Duc de Valois (afterwards Francis I.). It runs as follows:Olivier Bachelin, Orrons-nous plus de tes nouvelles ? This Olivier Basselin lived towards the close of the fifteenth century, and was noted in the wars against the English. M. Lacroix, continuing his criticism on the Vaux-de-Vire, says : "They recommend themselves by their incontestable antiquity and old reputation in Normandy. They are certainly the earliest types of the chanson bachique in France. It matters little whether Oliver Basselin and Jean le Houx are one and the same. He is a bon biberon who sings of cider and wine with French gaiety, in the good vulgar tongue which they spoke in Normandy at the end of the sixteenth century." These acute conjectures of M. Lacroix are supported by the opinion of the learned editors of La Normandie Illustrée (Nantes, 1852), art. "Vire." Those gentlemen (with one of whose number, M. E. le Hericher, of Avranches, I have the honour of acquaintance) say "that they regard the dyerpoet of Vire as a myth. He could not have had the education to enable him to give the classical allusions which occur in them. Jean le Houx was most probably their author." These suppositions are probably confirmed by a work which, while writing some weeks ago, I saw in the advertisement sheets of the Quarterly: The Vaux-de-Vire of Maistre Jean le Houx, Advocate of Vire, translated and edited by James P. Muirhead, M.A. (Murray). I have not seen the book itself; but, by the light of its title, I should guess that the editor shares the views of MM. Lacroix and Le Hericher regarding the true poet of Vire. ANGLO-SCOTUS. THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES DICKINSON, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF MEATH. Bishop Dickinson was a native of Cork-"a city remarkable for having produced a large number of men of great energy of mind and distinguished attainments in every profession." He was born there in August, 1792, and was elected, in 1813, a scholar of Trinity College, Dublin. In 1820, on the retirement of the Rev. James Dunn, he became chaplain of the Magdalen Asylum, Leeson Street, Dublin. In 1822 he accepted the chaplaincy of the Female Orphan House, North Circular Road, having resigned the other towards the close of the preceding year. Early in 1833 he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Hinds (afterwards Bishop of Norwich) as domestic chaplain and secretary to the late Archbishop Whately, and a few months after was appointed by him to the vicarage of St. Anne's, Dublin, vacant by the death of Viscount to the bishopric of Meath, he was consecrated, Harberton; and, in 1840, having been promoted on December 27, in Christ Church Cathedral, by his friend the archbishop, who also preached the consecration-sermon. Never, perhaps, was there a man less affected with the flush which so commonly attends upon sudden promotion." His writings are as follows: 1. A Letter to the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, and to the Right Rev. Dr.. Doyle, Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare, on the subject of their Pastoral Addresses, and the alleged [Hohenlohe] Miracles. By a Clergyman of the Established Church. Dublin, 1823. 8vo. 2. Obituary Notice of Alexander Knox, Esq., in the Christian Examiner (July, 1831), vol. xi. pp. 562-564. 3. Observations on Ecclesiastical Legislature and Church Reform. Dublin, 1833. 8vo. 4. Pastoral Epistle from His Holiness the Pope to some Members of the University of Oxford. Faithfully translated from the original Latin. [Anon.] London, 1836. Fourth edition, same year. 8vo.. perty in Ireland; together with the Memorial itself, and 5. Vindication of a Memorial respecting Church ProProtests against it. Dublin, 1836. 8vo. 6. The Permanent and the Temporary Commission of Christ to his Disciples Compared: a Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Bishop of Killaloe, at the Cathedral of Christ's Church, February 17, 1839. Dub lin, 1839. 8vo. 7. An Appeal in behalf of Church Government: addressed to the Prelates and Clergy of the United Church of England and Ireland. By a Member of the Church. London, 1840. 8vo. The present Dean of St. Patrick's, the Very Rev. John West, D.D. (at the time Vicar of St. Anne's, and subsequently Archdeacon of Dublin), published, in a thick octavo, the "Remains of the Most Reverend Charles Dickinson, D.D., Lord Bishop of Meath, being a Selection from his Sermons and Tracts, with a Biographical Sketch," London, 1845. Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7, in the foregoing list, have been reprinted in the volume, which contains likewise the following 8. Ten Sermons (including No. 6). 9. Fragments of a Charge intended to have been delivered at the Visitation of the Clergy of the Diocese of Meath, appointed to be held on July 12, 1842. Rector of Pembridge, Herefordshire, respecting Church 10. Correspondence with the Rev. Maurice James, Endowments. [1833.] 11. Conversation with two Disciples of Mr. Irving. [1836.] With many years of usefulness apparently be fore him, Bishop Dickinson's course on earth was not to be of long duration : "In the midst of his thoughtful and judicious plans, and his zealous labours, and while his mind was busily engaged in the preparation of the charge intended to be delivered in the different parts of his diocese (and which was found on his desk in the unfinished state in which it appears in this volume), he was seized with a feverish cold, at the beginning of the month of July, which did not at first present any formidable symptoms. . . . His case was pronounced to be typhus fever'; and on the eleventh day after the first unsuspected symptoms had appeared, and the fifth after serious apprehension had been awakened, his valuable life was terminated July 12, 1842 [the very day on which his primary charge was to have been delivered], in the fiftieth year of his age." TITHES OF FULBURNE, CO. CAMBRIDGE, 1436. In earlier volumes of "N. & Q." attention has been more than once drawn to the necessity of examining the contents of bindings. On the 23rd of December, 1875, I found a leaf of parchment in the padding of the first cover of Cabala; or, the Mystery of Conventicles Unvail'd ..., by Oliver Foulis, sm. 4to. Lond., 1664, being lxvi. G 6 of Dr. Routh's books now in the University Library, Durham. The leaf is now seven and one-eighth inches long and five and three-eighths wide, but one side has been slightly cropped by the binder. It is written on both sides, in a legal hand, on ruled lines, thirty lines on each side. The writing on verso is obscured in places by having had a written end-paper" pasted upon it. At the foot of recto is an illegible autograph (... Cantebr. (?) 164..). By the permission of the librarian I place on permanent record the following extended copy of the MS., which it is believed will interest many. 66 There is a 66 Cautio Mag'ri Galfridi Byschip," date 1419, in a MS. in Gonv. and Caius Coll., Cambr.; see Smith's Catal., 8vo. Cambr., 1849, p. 35. [Recto]" inquiratur/ Tibi igitur committimus & mandamus quatinus cite(s) peremptorie magistrum Iohannem Cawdrey Rectorem Ecclesie parochialis sancti Vig(oris) de ffulburne predicto quod die Mercurij proximo post ffestum Purificationis beate Marie) virginis proximum futurum coram nobis aut nostro in hac parte Commissa (rio) in Ecclesia parochiali omnium sanctorum de ffulburne predicto compareat in recep(tionem) & admissionem sex testium viz. Willelmi Auenand de ffulburne p(redicto) Rogeri Salman de eadem Johannis Cranvile de eadem Johannis Tailor de eadem Willelmi Bangolff de eadem & Johannis Gati(...) de eadem per dictum vicarium coram nobis aut nostro Commissario tun (c) ibidem producendorum si sua putauerint interesse/ Visurus quod Jn cuius rei testi in h(ac) parte iusticia suadebit/ Datum Cantebrig' sub sigillo quo vtimur in hoc Officio xxvt die mensis Januarij vestri autoritate & vigore prefatum magistrum Johannem Anno Domini m° cccc° xxx(...) Cuius quidem mandati Cawdrey antepenultimo die Mensis Januarij Anno domini (m) cccc xxxvjto supradicto in villa Cantebrig' predicta per me personali(ter) apprehensum peremptorie citaui quod dictis die & loco in mandato vestro coram vobis aut rece(pturus) quod tenor & effectus dicti mandati vestri vestro Commissario compareat facturus que vlterius & exigit & requirit Et sic (mandatum) vestrum reuerendum humiliter & deuote sum executus. mo (nium) sigillum decani decanatus Cantebrig' presentibus apponi procuraui Et e(go) decanus antedictus ad personalem et specialem Rogatum dicti mandatarii sigillum officij mei presentibus apposui/ Datum Cantebrig' quo ad lacionem presencium ijd die mensis ffebruarij Anno domini m ccccm xxxv(...) supradicto apparuit euidenter alta & intelligibili voce vocari & sepius preconizari fecimus Quo diucius expectato & vicarius predictus quemdam libellum su(um) in dicto nullo modo co(mparente) prefatus magister Galfridus negocio obtulit & porrexit Cuius tenor talis est In Dei (nomine) amen Coram vobis honorabili viro Magistro Willelmo Spaldyng (Com)missario Magistri Willelmi Sutton decretorum doctoris Custod (is) spiritualitatis Episcopatus Eliensis sede ibidem vacante ac Offic' Cons' [verso] Eliensis in hac parte specialiter deputato. Ego Galfridus Busshop vicarius ecclesie parochialis omnium sanctorum de ffulburne predicte Eliensis Diocesis Dico (a) llego & in hiis scriptis propono quod de ordinacione dicte vicarie primeua & (de) consuetudine laudabili et antiqua ab olim vsitata inconcusso obseruata (et nunc) hic prescripta. Jus percipiendi & habendi omnes & omnimodas decimas terrarum (tenem)entorum & maresci quondam domini de le zouche ac feodi quondam Petri Candace exceptis decimis Garbarum pisarum et ffeni ac habitantibus feoda predicta et edificia (q)uecunque super (omnes) (o)blaciones spirituales de quibuscunque ineisdem constructa qualitercunque prouenientes Eosque sic (i)nhabitantes seu dicta loca decimabilia qualitercunque occupantes ad (v)icarium Ecclesie Omnium sanctorum predicte qui pro tempore fuerit ipsius vicarie & suos Capellanos (a)dmittendi & recipiendi Sacraque Jure et nomine ad diuina officia in eadem ecclesia per se sacramentalia ecclesiastica eis (e)t veris dicte ecclesie parochianis ministrandi pertinuit et pertinet & pertinere (d)ebet in (futuris) ffuique & sum ego Galfridus vicarius predictus vicariam meam (predictam) canonice assecutus. psamque sic assecutam cum suis juribus (que) pertine (ant) (universis) per non nulla tempora possedi prout possideo de (prese)nti N(ecnon) omnes & omnimodas decimas exceptis decimis garbarum (p)isarum & (vere) oblacionesque & prouentus spirituales quoscunque de quibuscunque habitantibus domus et edificia quecunque seu loca eidem ecclesie decimabilia et (pe)sertim de infra parochiam Ecclesie omnium sanctorum predicte locis edificiis domibus terris campis pascuis pasturis (et) marescis feodorum predictorum te in & de hujusmodi feodi domicilia tenentibus (a)c larem fouentibus prouenientes ad dictam vicariam meam spectantes me & meos in hac parte percepi habui & de eisdem disposui libere (p)acifice & quiete saluis grauaminibus infrascriptis/ Videlicet quod dictus (ec)clesie vicarius sancti Vigoris me vicarium et vicariam meam predictam (de)cimis omnino in quodam barcario Isabelle Nuport super predictum feodum per Dominum de le Zouche nuper erecto mittare (?) Necnon decimis & oblacionibus (de) omnibus habitantibus edificium sine tenementum Johannis Elys super dicto feodo." W. C. B. |